Happy 4th Birthday Mia!

Today is our youngest child's birthday. Our little girl is turning 4...and we haven't even met. It is unbelievably difficult to describe what that feels like.
...to long to hold a child who doesn't know that I'm her mommy
...to miss the first 4 years of your little girl's life
...to know that every minute that goes by, is another minute that she doesn't know she is loved and belongs to a family

Today was bittersweet. We started our day cheering, singing and celebrating for Mia! What fun to celebrate her life, but painful to miss another day with her - especially a birthday. I wonder if she knows it is her birthday. Do the nannies give her extra hugs today? Or sing? Mia's orphanage does not allow birthday cakes to be sent (some do)- otherwise we would have done that. That was really disappointing to learn, but of course we honored their wishes. So, we decided that we needed to celebrate as a family for her...

We went out to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Yao's. The staff "knows" us because Steve and I frequent there often for lunch dates. Our waitress usually can repeat our sushi order before we even sit down! :) Today we went as a family. The kids and I met Steve there for a late lunch. They were super excited! When we arrived, we were given gifts decorated with ladybug chocolates and an adorable ladybug balloon. (the ladybug is a symbol for adoption in China). Our dear friend, Christy, had dropped them off earlier in the day and arranged for them to be waiting for us when we arrived. It was so thoughtful. We also brought a gift for Mia and some cupcakes. We had a wonderful meal, took some pictures, opened presents, lit candles and sang happy birthday. She received a little baby doll from us, an adorable children's storybook and a Chinese cookbook from Aunt Christy and a cup with her name on it from our sweet neighbor, Courtney (to match the ones the other kids use all the time). After visiting for a while with the staff about Mia, we gathered everything up and headed out.

It was a special time for us. We had fun. It brings me great comfort to know that the Lord is the Father to the fatherless. He is the defender of the weak. Our hearts ache for Mia be in our arms, but we know that even while we wait, she is in His. We are so thankful that this will be the LAST birthday she will spend without her family and the last birthday that we will spend without her. She is already so loved.

Mia's Care Package has arrived in China!

I just received notice that the care package we sent for Mia has arrived in China. We are using a wonderful woman named Ann at Red Thread China to help us with the process. I put together a package and shipped it to Ann. She will then translate a letter for us and make sure that it is hand delivered to Mia's orphanage. Ann then gets updates from the orphanage nannies (and maybe photos!)and emails them to us!

Included in the package was: a soft pink blanket that we washed several times so that it would smell like her new home, a teddy bear, an outfit (dress, sweater, pants, socks and hair bow), candies for the orphanage nannies, 2 disposable cameras with the request that the nannies fill them with pictures of Mia and her friends, a letter to Mia from mommy & daddy(translated by our friends Wenkai & Melanie), a letter to the nannies (to be translated by Ann at redthreadchina) and a photo album for Mia (with labels translated by our friend Melanie) so that she can see her mommy, daddy, brothers, sister and bedroom. We are just thrilled that it has all arrived safely to Ann and that she will get it the rest of the way to Mia. Chloe and I prayed before we went into the post office that the Lord would protect this special package on its journey across the globe to our sweet sister on the other side. Thank you Jesus!

Below are some pictures of Melanie making the labels for us, the photo album, the letter to Mia and the package contents.

It's Been A LONG time!

After taking off well over a year from the blog world, it is time to start back up again. A lot has happened in that time and we are now getting ready to go get our precious little girl in China!!! There is so much to tell about how the Lord has directed and re-directed our path along the way, but I'll save that for another day.

Over the last several weeks we have been waiting on our transfer LID (log in date). What this means is that the CCAA (Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) has to officially transfer our dossier (paperwork) from our old agency to our new agency, CWA (Christian World Adoption) where we found our daughter on their Hope Project list. I had decided in my mind that April 9 would be the earliest that we could expect our new LID. Traditionally, it has been taking on average 4-6 weeks to receive your new LID after submitting for transfer. Lately, however, it has been much more unpredictable and several families have waited close to 3 months. Our transfer request was submitted on March 4. I knew that I needed to be realistic. I calculated that April 9 would be just over 5 weeks and so that was the date I chose to look toward as the earliest possible arrival time.

In a nutshell, this week has been torture. I have wrestled with worry over whether our paperwork would somehow get lost in the shuffle. I struggled to keep myself from calling our caseworker and ask about any possible update on the progress. It's really crazy because I knew that if there was something to tell us she would call. Yesterday, I spent a lot of time praying about it. I prayed that the Lord would give me patience and self-control (not to call). I prayed that I would TRUST HIM, that I would be still and know that HE IS GOD. I also specifically prayed that He would show me that He is handling the details. Then finally, I prayed "You already know my heart and if at all possible - if it is within Your Will, move this mountain quickly." :) I just had to get it out there. I knew I wasn't fooling Him anyway. I wish that I could say that I felt a supernatural peace and overwhelming patience afterward, but I really didn't. I just continued with my daily activities.

This morning I received an email with a question from our case manager which required me to give her a call. I reached her immediately and after I answered her question...she told me that we received our new LID (yesterday)!!! That, my friends, can ONLY be GOD! When she told me, it literally took my breath away. It took 3 weeks! After I got off the phone I was shouting for joy and praising the Lord. Chloe (who has seen this on occassion) kept asking what happened?! I told her and she quickly joined in the jumping and cheering with me. After I took some time to reflect and thank God, I was overwhelmed. I felt as though the Lord was saying to me, "My child, do I need to show you again that I am in control and handling all of the details? Yes? OK. Done." Our transfer was likely completed within hours of that prayer. That was such a gift. Totally unnecessary. Totally unexpected. And God would still have been amazing and powerful and loving had He not done it, but today He chose to show Himself to me in a very real & personal way. There have been COUNTLESS examples just like this along our adoption journey (and in the lives of the v. crew) that continue to grow our faith, but today I wanted to share this one with you.

Praising My Jesus,
Karen